Fiery Furnace 7/5

I was the newbie here and Trish the expert (she had been here once before). We tried to get a guided tour (a group of about 15 people) of the Fiery Furnace but time wouldn't permit. The only way we could see it was on our own. They only let about 70 people per day through, including the guided tours. I think they gave us the permit (non-guided) because Trish had been once before. It's not a marked trail, so I must admit that I was a little nervous. All we had to go by were footprints in sand and worn out rock where people have walked.

This first picture is an aerial view - pretty cool!

Here's the beginning of our trail - we could see the tall narrow walls and it was pretty intimidating - at least it was for me! Remember, no guide and no marked trails. :-/ Just the two of us.


Can you see the really small person in this picture below (bottom left corner of pic)? That's me - and that's how MASSIVE these intimidating walls are!!!


As you can see in this pic, there is a handrail and you might be able to see some steps that have been carved in the rock. This is the only place where it's marked. We saw a couple right before we got to this rail (the very beginning of our hike) and they told us they found an arch - we found it too!




We found the arch the couple told us about. But it was a dead end so we had to turn around to continue the UN-guided hike.

"Umm, are we lost?"

I hope I don't get this wrong, but I think somebody said this was the kissing turtle arch - looks like two turtle heads kissing! Awwww!


Don't remember the name of this double arch at all. If anyone does, let me know! But is was my favorite in the Fiery Furnace - so cool!

I know this pic looks fake, but I promise we were there!

This was one of the dead ends we hit - I actually started getting nervous about getting out. Did I tell you that we started this hike around 4:30 p.m.? We did run in to the afternoon guided-tour group. We were going to follow them out, but it would have taken us back the way we came and we didn't want to do that. But it was tempting! I think we both admitted that we were worried - but not until after we saw the light at the end of the tunnel, or in this case, the end of the fiery furnace!


We made it out! It was about 6:45 p.m. when we found the trail out of the furnace. What a great experience. I can't wait to go again!